A. Catherine Noon and Rachel Wilder: Realism

Giveaway Alert! Don’t forget about the giveaways posted yesterday. You can still win a book from me, Carrie Ann Ryan’s contest is still running, Elise Logan has a contest going for a copy of her back list, I’m giving away a copy of Bound with Pearls, Roni Loren is giving away a signed copy of her book, Need You Tonight AND Keira Kohl has a giveaway from yesterday. Two of these contest are ending soon! Don’t miss those!

Please welcome two of the coolest writing ladies I’ve had the pleasure to meet, A. Catherine Noon and Rachel Wilder!!!!!

We’ve all read books where a scene pops up that makes us go, “Huh?”  Maybe it’s an impossible sexual position. Maybe it’s something in our hobby that is wrong, such as knitting in a way that doesn’t work or something totally unrealistic in the woodshop. Sometimes it because we authors miss something in our research, or maybe the editor didn’t catch a mistake. Other times it’s just plain ignorance, sadly – where someone doesn’t ask the right questions of the people who actually do the hobby or occupation in question.

One of the things Rachel and I wanted to do in writing the Chicagoland Shifters series is make it as realistic as possible as regards “the lifestyle.” (For readers new to that term, it tends to be used by people in the BDSM community to refer to people who are active participants in that community and enjoy elements of it from very mild to very intense.) There’s been a lot of criticisms of books that get that wrong and, while I have no intension of pointing any fingers, (writing a book is an accomplishment, any way you slice it, and I’m not going to sling mud on someone’s creative endeavor), we really wanted to bring our own slant to the genre.

Safety is something that’s sometimes overlooked in fiction because there’s a perception that it’s boring or would turn off a reader.  I’ve seen debates, for example, of whether to write condoms into a sex scene. My feeling is that if I, as an author, can’t make that hot and sexy, then I’m not working hard enough at my craft. Sexually-transmitted diseases are a reality and it’s up to us as writers and adults who engage in sexual behavior with others to be responsible. There are many ways to make using safe sex fun, exciting, and even funny. Humor in the right place works, at least for me.  I remember the first time I read in the Delta of Venus, by Anais Nin, that totally jumped off the page and hit me between the eyes:

“Maman thought people  today did not know enough about the importance of a fit. She  would have liked to spread this knowledge she possessed, but  men and women were growing more careless, they were less  exacting than she. If a man today found himself floating in too  large a glove, moving about as in an empty apartment, he made  the best of it. He let his member flap around like a flag and come  out without the real clutching embrace which warmed his en-  trails. Or he slipped it in with saliva, pushing as if he were  trying to slip under a closed door, pinched in the narrow surroundings and shrinking even more just to stay there. And if the  girl happened to laugh heartily with pleasure or with the pre-  tense of pleasure, he was immediately ousted, for there was no  expansion allowed for the swelling of laughter. People were  losing their knowledge of good conjunctions.”

Up until that point, I had thought erotic literature should be serious – the serious business of sex, please and thank you. Her realism in writing opened my eyes to a whole new world.  Fast-forward to Rachel and I talking about the lifestyle and our books and poof, we had an idea.

In Chicagoland Shifters, we tell stories about ex-Marines and their BDSM club called The Factory. In the first two books, Burning Bright and Tiger Tiger, our hero Neal Harrison is a top and the owner of the club. We sprinkled a lot of safety throughout the story in ways that we hope will blend seamlessly into the story so that the reader doesn’t even realize they’re there: the use of safe words, discussing boundaries, negotiation, and yes, condoms.

The lifestyle can be a lot of fun. Whether your kink is mild or extreme, it can awaken desires you never knew you had. Just like when we first learn about safe sex, safe kink can make scenes more fun and last longer. As Rachel and I write, we try to think up fun ways of being kinky that readers could, potentially, try on their own. For me, that’s what makes a sex scene sexy – do I want to go jump my lover and experiment when I’m done reading? Or does the scene make me say, “Huh?”

Giveaway: Answer Noony’s question to be entered to win your very own copy of Burning Bright:

What kind(s) of kink do you wish you could find more of in your favorite books?

For author and textile artist A. Catherine Noon, it’s all about the yarn, both metaphorical and literal – spinning a yarn, knitting with yarn, weaving, sewing, painting, sharing stories and good times over a cup of coffee with dark chocolate.  She teaches creative writing, creative expression and textile arts.

For author Rachel Wilder, it’s all about the person – from characters to clients.

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The Chicagoland Shifters series:

Book 1 BURNING BRIGHT, available from Samhain Publishing.

Book 2 TIGER TIGER, available from Samhain Publishing. An All Romance eBooks Bestseller!

The Persis Chronicles:

Check out EMERALD FIRE, available from Torquere Books.

Check out “Seeking Hearts“, available from Torquere Books.

Check out COOK LIKE A WRITER , available from Barnes and Noble.

Check out “Taking a Chance“, available from Torquere Books!

Links: Blog | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | LinkedIn | Pandora

Knoontime Knitting:  Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Ravelry

Noon and Wilder links: Blog | Taurus and Taurus (NSFW) | Website | Facebook

The Writer Zen Garden:  The Writers Retreat Blog | Forum | Facebook | Twitter | Meetup

Team Blogs: Nightlight | Nightlight FB Page |  Beyond the Veil | BtV FB Page

Publishers: LooseId |  Samhain Publishing | Torquere Press

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